Certification
Many people ask about certification for end-of-life doulas. We understand. It’s confusing. We each want the families we serve and the professionals we interact with to respect our experience and expertise, and to trust that we have the skills necessary to serve them in the best way possible. To prove our skill and training level, certification is often the answer. However, there is no universally recognized local, regional, or federal authority, regulatory or accrediting body that holds the liability or provides monitoring for end-of-life doulas.
So, what does it mean when someone self identifies as a certified EOLD? Here’s the scoop: Training programs that have designed their own curriculum sometimes offer what is called an in-house certification where they attest to successful completion of a course of study. However, earning a particular program’s self-certification is not required to practice as an end-of-life doula. Holding a certification from a trainer or training entity, while valuable in confirming a certain degree of accomplishment and identifying the training type, is not the same as being certified or licensed by an independent, 3rd party certifier, in the way that nurses, CNAs, counselors, therapists, contractors, cosmetologists, and others are.
Micro-credentials and NEDA’s Proficiency Assessment Process
Proficiency micro-credentialing is a different way of assessing skills and training that may be valuable to doulas. This is a method for assessing knowledge of a topic through testing. It does not compare to any other organization’s achievement process or certificate of completion, and does not include an assessment of skills or field experience, something that certification usually requires. The primary goal of proficiency micro-credentialling is to bring some consistency to our work which, in turn, provides a level of assurance to families choosing to involve a doula in their care system.
Although NEDA is not an accrediting body, we do believe that for people to embrace the work that EOLDs offer, they’ll want assurance that all practitioners possess certain fundamental knowledge and skills, and there must be a basic level of continuity and consistency that defines our scope of practice. As a result, NEDA has established Standards of Practice and Code of Conduct Guidelines for ethical and professional end-of-life doula practice. Further, it has created a Proficiency Assessment Process that includes a test that measures general knowledge in four areas of core competency: Communication and Interpersonal Skills; Professionalism, Technical Skills, and Values and Ethics. Regardless of the type of training a doula receives, NEDA’s micro-credential proficiency assessment process screens for continuity and a proven shared knowledge base across all training providers. The NEDA micro-credential assessment is a direct reflection of the standards, or core competencies, that NEDA developed and provides to doula trainers. Successful completion of the test will earn NEDA members a “micro-credential” that recognizes a standard level of proficiency in the field.
Note: In addition to the EOLD proficiency badge, NEDA has added a second assessment for members who wish to earn a proficiency badge as a After Death Care Educator (ADCE). For more information on this process, please click here.
For a more in-depth discussion of certification and micro-credentialing, please see NEDA Proficiency Assessment: A Micro-Credential by Merilynne Rush, MSHP, RN, BSN.
Earn your End-of-Life Doula Proficiency Badge and/or your After-Death Care Educator Proficiency Badge today!